This dream, dream is a killer
by Td03
Summary: Doesn't really make sense if Jack and Maddie never seriously get their kids involved in their ghost business. If Danny had shown more interest the first episode would be more different I imagine. One-shot draft. Female Danny.


See this story with images and without ANs in my Ao3 account: **Td03**.

 **Getting drunk with a blue catterpillar**

Summary : Doesn't really make sense if Jack and Maddie never seriously get their kids involved in their ghost business. If Danny had shown more interest the first episode would be more different I imagine. Female Danny.

* * *

Much of the day's quota of eagerness was burned out when Jack Fenton was _three hours late._

"Seriously? Your Dad called us in the middle of the night and told us to come here ASAP." Sam glared at her watch, the capital blocks of S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y. blinking along with the alarm, which she turned off.

"To be fair, we weren't planning to sleep anyway," Danny deadpanned at the number 4:01 AM, "I'm more concerned with the fact that my almost 40 year old parents waking up before the birds even sing."

"Girl, your parents barely slept."

"Humor me, guys? They've been at this for two weeks, I think it's the real deal this time."

Sam sighed as she opened the door to Fenton Works. She and Tuck had come here so often they don't need to knock and their DNA's keyed into the security. They might as well pay rent. "I admire their dedication, but a portal to a parallel world? They're just two scientist parents — a whole division haven't even discovered it in centuries, Danny."

"But, you guys know ghosts are real, and Mom and Dad are way ahead of the officials from what I read, a parallel dimension is possible," _they have to be._ Danny insisted, though privately she dearly wished this wouldn't be a waste on her friends' time.

"We know you've seen them, but, _we_ haven't, and it's really hard to believe ghosts are real when we never saw the proof, Danny," Tucker pitched, "Those green goop aren't convincing enough."

"They're glowing with energy!" Danny argued.

"They could be some kind of new mineral or something, I don't know! All three of us suck at geo."

Danny gave up trying to convince her friends to believe in ghosts. It was a very controversial topic, especially in Amity Park. Her parents used to take Jazz and her to trips and catch ghosts. Mom said a more powerful ghost managed to maintain a humanoid form, one of whom she had seen before when she was young, but all Danny had seen so far are just green blobs, sentient beings. Dad said they were the most common ones alongside the ones who can't maintain a corporeal form and can only affect humans' feelings, like in haunted houses. Some believed, and some like Sam and Tuck were lucky to never seen one before, thus their skepticism. "Just please give them some attention? I'm worried — if it fails again.." Sam put an arm on her shoulder, understanding what she means.

Tucker nodded and put away his PDA, "Fine, we'll see if it's works."

Right on time, or very late? Jack Fenton burst into the living room from the basement after making them wait for roughly three hours, stating that there was a brief malfunction that needed to be fixed. "Hey, kids! I hope I didn't interrupt your group project! How's it going?"

 _We lied about the project._ Danny strained a smile. _Doom II was out last night and instead of having a sleepover at Tucker's we dried Sam's big screen out._

"Oh, we're doing great, Mr. Fenton! Just have to finish a few side notes," Tucker covered them with a nervous laugh, which was pathetic. But Jack Fenton was clueless.

"Good, good. Though next time make sure you do the project early instead of at the last minute. I remember my school days too about that, I get sleepy at noons. Thankfully, Maddie's fudge is delicious for lunch!" Jack completed his purpose in coming upstairs, stuffing one of said fudge on his mouth from the fridge. "Now, to the lab!"

Once they were down on the basement, Sam and Tucker had to make sure to see where they were stepping onto. They've been friends with Danny since eighth grade, but before that, according to Danny's sister the basement used to be filled with old junks passed down from Maddie's side of the family in German, and it was dark and creepy enough for the little girls' Halloween celebrations. Now, ever since her parents made that hulking device implanted in that wall, giant and cold and always broken one way or another, the basement was bright and loud with machines and industrial lamps.

Danny and her parents, excluding Jazz who never came down, preferring to stay in her room studying for her dream college, were used to the mess and knew which ones were dangerous and which ones isn't dangerous to step onto. It was mostly her parents though, Danny just kicked whatever weapons or containment devices her parents made to the side of their way around.

The lab was big, much wider than what the Fenton Works look like from the outside. They couldn't go beyond though but it was enough for a lab exclusive for a questioned taxonomy. Ever since they decided to settle in for good so their daughters could focus on their education, the giant machine was built in the wall, not long enough to pass through the sewer system underneath the surface of the town, but it was long enough that it gave the impression of a small cave. The Ghost Portal is a project her parents had dedicated their time for since college, evident by the old electronics stuffed in the corner boxes and stray wires. There was a generator synched with what her parents call an Ecto-Converter, several monitoring mainframes and other maintenance apparatus. Aware of their purpose or not, everyone had enough common sense to not step onto the tubes filled with green liquid, however sturdy they seem to be.

Admist all the messy papers and data sheets with the occasional bent screws, three chairs stood near, but far enough from the portal. There used to be another one but Jazz' visit to the basement became so scarce the chair was taken out for other uses.

"So, kids, let's go over what we know about ghosts before we begin. Ghosts—"

"Mom, I've already explained this to them so can we skip the tradition? We've heard enough." Danny interrupted. Unlike her who was used to little sleep Sam and Tucker are cranky, especially Sam in this time of the morning, regardless if she slept or not. She didn't want her friends to leave before they even turn the machine on.

"Nonsense, honey, it's protocol in case anyone forgot. We can't possibly rip time and space to the a dimension without having everybody to know what they might see!" Dad fiddled with some wires before continuing to type some keys. After admitting his weakness in calculus all problems related to equeations were given to Maddie, and Jack was only trusted with computer and technical works.

"But we'll shorten them from now on. You kids do know better but better safe than sorry," Maddie attempted to appease them. It didn't work though, and Sam was not looking forward for another spiel of how terrible ghosts are or what they're made of with additional footnotes of 'we haven't figured it out why some are like this and like that'.

So she interrupted her, besides, she was a little curious, "We already know the gist about these things, Mrs. Fenton, I'm wondering about the portal. How'd you come up with it in the first place?"

"Oh! Good question, Sam! Well, ghosts can appear and disappear right? Several times, we caught sight of ghosts disappearing into what might look like a natural portal. It was very fleeting, we always failed to get a picture, and I think ghosts can't actually appear on cameras though we haven't tested that yet, but they were very fascinating. We analyzed the remains of those specific places and found a common ecto-element. A gas form of ectoplasm, but they were very rich despite not condensed in goo," Maddie tapped on a weird looking device, which was huge and visibly heating through, "this baby exploded 2 out of 3 times for heating up the matters since it's so hard to get the samples."

"You should've seen them, kids, they look like windows! When we turn around our heads those things look like they were literal rips of the dimension! We witnessed one together since early college and we've been trying to replicate them ever since."

Danny already knew about these. Maddie and Jack have been babbling about ecto-science since she was a kid in hopes that their daughters would pick up on their interest in ghosts. It used to interest Jazz, until the older sibling concluded the whole thing was fake since it was all based on ghosts. Jazz once suggested it was aliens, but _that_ hypothesis escalated badly quickly. Danny stayed though, not wanting to distance from her parents nearly completely like Jazz, though she had her own opinions on how she secretly viewed her parents hunts over the ghosts who were just minding their own business in random locations.

Sam and Tucker seemed interested though, in a morbid and technical way. It was pretty hard not to with the anticipation that they might make it into history if this invention was successful. "But how'd you gonna make it? Time and space isn't something you can manipulate, Mrs. F."

"Compressing these ecto-compounds is something we've been doing for years. You know, our ancestors used to hold sacrifices and their deaths would open these 'portals' according to our research. Though it was so interwoven with religious miracles that we couldn't really be sure if it was true or not. Not that we'd ever try to replicate that method, instead, Jack here invented a filtration for these ecto-gas to condense. That's what these tubes are for, along with the tanks," Mom pointed at the giant tanks on the other side of the wall, "They'll store the excess. What we really needs is the friction from the forced element change. Jack, honey, how's the temperature?"

Dad looked closely at the thermometer attached near the portal, checking the other one conected with the mainframe. "Exactly 16 degrees, Mads. Ecto-filtrator's check."

"Yes!" Mom jumped with an excited fist, "Kids! It's time we turn it on~ Brace yourself! We're making history!"

"Here's the plus cord, Mads!" Jack handed his wife a thick cable and held the other end of the cord. Maddie gave final checks and Danny examined the readings, already memorizing them after so many attempts. Sam and Tucker who had only joined in during ninth grade didn't feel Danny's weariness, instead the build-up anticipation Jack and Maddie feels every time they're going to activate the portal was infecting her friends. Sam was even taking pictures and Tucker was doing vid. Jack picked up the wire and Maddie pushed the other into the extension cord, and the machine crackled to life.

 _It worked!_ Danny's eyes shot open as she caught a glimpse of that "window" forming in a spiralling motion on the portal's surface. It was so small, and barely there, but she saw the eerie glass-like green liquid forming from all those electricity sparking on the machine.

"There's something black swirling, Jack!"

True to her observation, there was something else, something they haven't seen yet. But from her vantage point, a little sideways away from the others, she sees that it wasn't totally black. It looked like a very dark shade of purple. And if she wasn't mistaken it looked like a door—

Danny must have forgotten about the crackle of electricity running rampage because she was completely startled when the low humming turned erratic and soon, the machine whirrled uncontrollably and the tiny rip was gone, no swirling green of ectoplasmic world, just an empty hunk of metal leaking smoke.

"It was so close," Mom's voice cracked clearly, and Dad patted her back. Sam let her camera hang beside her while Tucker's hands limped slightly. Danny—Danny was _angry_. Sometimes it sparked, somtimes it fizzled, but that was the extent. Now it was just cruel. She felt that same as her mother, _it was so_ close _, damn it._

She didn't want her parents to be one of those unlucky scientists who spent their whole lives trying to find an answer to their question but never coming close.

"Mom..." Danny whispered, it never quite reached their ears. If Danny felt this bad, she can't imagine how her parents feel. It was _there_. Like a cruel teaser that refrained from coming closer. She just wished it worked so her Mom and Dad could finally stop obsessing and get some actual sleep. She was tired of suffering one of her insomnia lapses and having to hear her parents talk solemnly at midnight about their lack of progress, hearing the mechanics and plannings they talked to fill the silence but never acting on them in fear that she might ruin it — and that it was her parents' pride and not to tamper.

Something must have gone right, and something must have gone wrong. If she could fix it, that would not only be cool, that would put an end to all this frustration. Danny glanced at her parents and slumped on her chair, seeing their faltered faces the portal might as well has a giant banner of shame.

Tucker saw how badly this even affected his best friend and quickly thought of something, really anything to say. "Hey, Mrs. F, that was so cool. I saw that green thing—we were _this_ close! Please don't be sad, you guys almost made it work! I'm pretty beat, though, can we have breakfast?"

The jolly tone seemed to spark the light back in their eyes, and Tucker caught Danny's thankful look, "You're right, Tucker! We almost did it, didn't we, honey? We'll nail the portal for sure next time. I'll make some breakfast!" Maddie smiled and jumped to avoid the mess on the floor, running up the stairs and Jack followed with a loving cry for "Pancakes!"


End file.
